Wherever they are, users of the official Rio 2016 app can select up to five athletes as their favourites and then automatically receive updates about everything they are doing in the Games.

The list of the most favourited athletes serves as an interesting snapshot of just who the world's Olympic Games fans are cheering for Rio 2016.

Michael Phelps

After London 2012, the world's greatest swimmer told the world he was retiring. Thankfully for us, he soon changed his mind and at Rio 2016 added another five golds and one silver to his medal haul. On his popular Facebook page, where Phelps has more than eight million likes, he thanked his family for all their support.

Phelps's baby Boomer is an Internet star in his own right, He won an army of fans during Rio 2016, with his number of Instagram followers increasing to more than 300,000.

Usain Bolt

The charismatic king of the track has a total of about 25 million followers on social networks. At Rio 2016, Bolt will be attempting an unprecedented 'triple triple' of golds in the 100m, 200m and 4x100 relay.

Neymar

The Brazilian football star is an Internet idol, with more than 58 million likes on his Facebook page and almost 57 million followers on Instagram.

Neymar has used social media to whip up support for the Brazilian Olympic football side. In a message to Brazil's gold medal winning judo heroine, Rafaela Silva, he said the national team should take inspiration from her exploits. His post has been liked almost 700,000 times.

 

Rafael Nadal

The Spanish former world number one, who won doubles gold at Rio but failed to win the men's singles, is still number one with Rio 2016 tennis fans.

 

Simone Biles

The American gymnast has emerged as one of the brightest stars of Rio 2016, with three gold medals to her name already and the chance for another two.

Biles has taken time out from her medal collecting to exchange messages on social networks with heart throb Zac Efron. Turns out the two of them are big fans of each other.